''U.S. of Archie'' is a Saturday morning cartoon show on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

from September 7 to December 21, 1974. A spin-off of the popular Archie comic books and

television show A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed b ...

. It ran for a total of sixteen episodes, but due to its educational agenda, lacked the music and comedy elements which had made the other Archie cartoons so successful. After spending its first four months on Saturday mornings, it was moved to the less-popular Sunday morning schedule in January 1975, where it remained in repeats until September 1976. Jackie Mills, a Hollywood producer, produced all of the music for ''U.S. of Archie''. Jackie had also produced

Bobby Sherman Robert Cabot Sherman Jr. (born July 22, 1943), known professionally as Bobby Sherman, is an American retired paramedic, police officer, singer, actor and occasional songwriter who became a teen idol in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He had a s ...

and the Brady Bunch Kids. The lead singer on ''U.S. of Archie'' was Tom McKenzie, who earlier appeared on some of the ''

Groovie Goolies ''Groovie Goolies'' is an American animated television show that had its original run Saturday mornings on CBS between 1970 and 1971. It was rebroadcast the following season on Sunday mornings. Set at a decrepit castle, the show focused on its mo ...

s songs. Tom was a member of the Doodletown Pipers singing group, which also included Augie Johnson, Oren Waters, Mic "Michele" Bell,

Teresa Graves Terresa M. Graves (January 10, 1948October 10, 2002), credited as Teresa Graves, was an American actress and singer best known for her starring role as undercover police detective Christie Love in the ABC crime-drama television series '' Get Ch ...

, and Dean Chapman. Beginning on March 29, 2010, ''U.S. of Archie'' started to air on the

Retro Television Network Retro TV (stylized as retrotv), formerly known as Retro Television Network, is an American broadcast television network owned by Get After It Media. The network mainly airs classic television sitcoms and drama series from the 1950s through t ...

Plot

The series features Archie, Jughead, and the other Riverdale High student regulars re-enacting famous scenes throughout

American history The history of the lands that became the United States began with the arrival of Settlement of the Americas, the first people in the Americas around 15,000 BC. Native American cultures in the United States, Numerous indigenous cultures formed ...

, taking full advantage of the

Bicentennial __NOTOC__ A bicentennial or bicentenary is the two-hundredth anniversary of a part, or the celebrations thereof. It may refer to: Europe *French Revolution bicentennial, commemorating the 200th anniversary of 14 July 1789 uprising, celebrated ...

in the months leading up to it. These re-enactments were termed by Archie during the show to be historical accounts featuring the "ancestors" of the current Archie gang; surprisingly, these ancestors were nearly identical to Archie ''et al.'' and were seemingly close friends of famous people in several eras of American history. It was produced by

Filmation Filmation Associates was an American production company that produced animation and live-action programming for television from 1963 until 1989. Located in Reseda, California, the animation studio was founded in 1962. Filmation's founders and ...

founders and producers

Lou Scheimer Louis Scheimer (October 19, 1928 – October 17, 2013) was an American producer and voice actor who was one of the original founders of Filmation. He was also credited as an executive producer of many of its cartoons. Early life and education ...

and

Norm Prescott Norman Prescott (January 31, 1927 – July 2, 2005) was co-founder and executive producer at Filmation Associates, an animation studio he created with veteran animator Lou Scheimer. Life and career Born in the Dorchester neighborhood of Bosto ...

. The musical segments appear after the episode ends, which are songs about the covered topic. The characters were slightly re-drawn with new clothing but some of the animations were recycled.

Voices

* Dallas McKennon - Archie Andrews, Hot Dog, Mr. Weatherbee,

Chuck Clayton Charles Clayton is a teenage fictional character published by Archie Comics. Chuck lives in the fictional town of Riverdale, and is the friend of Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, Jughead Jones, and other students at Riverdale High School. Chuck fir ...

John Erwin John Lee Erwin (born December 5, 1936) is an American voice actor best known for voicing He-Man and Morris the Cat. Career Erwin was the voice of He-Man in the Filmation productions ''He-Man and the Masters of the Universe'' and '' She-Ra: Prin ...

- Reggie Mantle *

Jane Webb Jane Webb Karyl, (August 13, 1925 – March 30, 2010) best known as Jane Webb, was an American film, radio, and voice actress, best known for her work on Filmation's cartoons. Early years Webb's mother was Estelle Sigrid Webb, a Swedish immigran ...

- Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Miss Grundy *

Howard Morris Howard Jerome Morris (September 4, 1919 – May 21, 2005) was an American actor, comedian, and director. He was best known for his role in ''The Andy Griffith Show'' as Ernest T. Bass, and as "Uncle Goopy" in a celebrated comedy sketch on Sid Ca ...

- Jughead Jones, Big Moose Mason

Episodes

References

External links

''The U.S. of Archie''
at the

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:U.S. Of Archie CBS original programming 1970s American animated television series 1970s American children's comedy television series 1974 American television series debuts 1976 American television series endings American animated television spin-offs American children's animated comedy television series American children's animated education television series American children's animated musical television series English-language television shows Historical television series Teen animated television series Television series by Filmation Television shows based on Archie Comics United States Bicentennial Television shows directed by Hal Sutherland